Donald Richie died last Tuesday. I was already planning to go to the Music Hall Tuesday night for their presentation of Ran; it seemed an excellent way to honor Mr. Richie’s memory, and so I raised a glass to him on my way to the theater. I learned of Mr. Richie’s work very recently – at a dinner at a brilliant friend’s place, I started talking Kurosawa with another brilliant friend (I’d just watched The Seven Samurai again and was full of enthusiasm). She pointed me at Richie’s book on the director as well as a bio of Kurosawa and Mifune by Stuart Galbraith IV and a fantastic novel, The Last Samurai, that uses The Seven Samurai as both an element in the characters lives and as an organizing theme.
A 2009 Donald Richie interview (via LGM):
And as long as we’re on the topic, locals – the Currier Museum has a special exhibit up at the moment: Lethal Beauty: Samurai Weapons and Armor. I’ll report on the show in a couple weeks – a trip to view is scheduled w/ brilliant friend the first.
Re Kurosawa (ignoring for a moment the majestic Dersu): I took a tutorial with one of the great old Shakespeare scholars in the 70’s, and he included Throne of Blood as one of the three best Shakesperian film adaptations or roles in history . Other odd ones were the Polanski Macbeth and Mickey Rooney as Puck in a 30’s Midsummer. Popular Olivier and Welles’ Chimes at Midnight were others we both liked (;-))